David Foster Wallace - University of Texas at Austin · Biographical Sketch David Foster Wallace was born February 21, 1962, in Ithaca, New York. His father, James Wallace, is a philosophy

David Foster Wallace:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Descriptive Summary

Creator: Wallace, David Foster (1962-2008)

Title: David Foster Wallace Papers

Dates: 1971-2008

Extent: 44 document boxes, 8 oversize folders (18.48 linear feet)

Abstract: The David Foster Wallace Papers document all but one of Wallace'smajor works, and many of his shorter works.

Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-5155

Language: English

Access: Open for research

Administrative Information

Acquisition: Purchase, 2009 (09-11-011-P, 12-03-010-P, 12-10-005-P)

Processed by: Stephen Cooper, 2010; Jenn Shapland, 2012

Repository: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center

Biographical Sketch

David Foster Wallace was born February 21, 1962, in Ithaca, New York. His father,James Wallace, is a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, and his mother,Sally Foster Wallace, is an instructor in English at Parkland College, a communitycollege in Champaign, Illinois. Amy Wallace Havens, Wallace's younger sister, practiceslaw in Tucson, Arizona. Wallace married artist Karen Green in 2004.

As an adolescent, Wallace played football and was a regionally ranked tennis player, buthis interest in writing and language was influenced by his parents, who read Ulysses outloud to each other. His father read Moby-Dick to Wallace and his sister when they wereonly eight and six years old, and his mother would playfully pretend to have a coughingfit if one of the children made a usage error during supper conversation.

Wallace graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College in 1985 with a doublemajor in Philosophy and English. His philosophy senior thesis dealt with semantics andmodal logic concerning Aristotle's sea battle. His English senior thesis, around 700 pagesand written in five months, turned into Wallace's first novel, The Broom of the System(1987), which attracted positive attention and comparisons to the work of Jorge LuisBorges and Thomas Pynchon. At Amherst, Wallace served for a time as managing editorof Sabrina, The Humor Magazine of Amherst College, and upon graduation he accepteda fellowship in the writing program at the University of Arizona, where he graduatedwith an M.F.A. in 1987. While a graduate student, Wallace met Bonnie Nadell, a literaryagent in San Francisco, who read an excerpt of The Broom of the System that Wallacehad submitted to her agency. Nadell took on Wallace as a client, establishing aprofessional and personal relationship that lasted the rest of his life.

Wallace followed The Broom of the System with the collection of short stories Girl WithCurious Hair (1988), and he next published a nonfiction work with co-author MarkCostello titled Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present (1990), whichreceived a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1991. Infinite Jest (1996), a massive 1,079 pagenovel, cemented his reputation as a formidable literary figure. His other major worksinclude A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments (1997), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999), Up, Simba! (2000), Everything and More: ACompact History of Infinity (2003), Oblivion (2004), and Consider the Lobster: AndOther Essays (2005). Brief Interviews with Hideous Men was adapted for film in 2009.

In addition to the shorter pieces in his collected works, Wallace authored dozens ofstories, non-fiction articles, and book reviews for, among others, the Amherst Review,the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Magazine, the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Paris Review, Poetry in Review, Rolling Stone, Salon.com, the Village Voice, the Washington Post, and numerous anthologies. He was the recipient of a Whiting Writers'Award in 1987; a Yaddo residency fellowship in 1987 and 1989; a John Traine HumorPrize in 1988 for "Little Expressionless Animals"; a National Endowment for the Artsfellowship in 1989; an Illinois Arts Council Award for Nonfiction in 1989 for "FictionalFutures and the Conspicuously Young"; a Quality Paperback Book Club's New VoicesAward in Fiction in 1991 for Girl with Curious Hair; a National Magazine Awardfinalist in 1995 for "Ticket to the Fair" and in 1997 for "David Lynch Keeps His Head"; a

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Wallace, David Foster (1962-2008) Manuscript Collection MS-5155

finalist in 1995 for "Ticket to the Fair" and in 1997 for "David Lynch Keeps His Head"; aLannan Foundation Award for Literature in 1996 and 2000; and a MacArthur Foundationfellowship in 1997-2002. He was named Outstanding University Researcher, IllinoisState University, in 1998 and 1999.

Having suffered from anxiety attacks since his late teens, Wallace was diagnosed withclinical depression during his sophomore year at Amherst. He struggled with thecondition for the rest of his life, and after a particularly rough period during which hisusual medication was no longer effective, Wallace killed himself on September 12,2008, at his home in California. His final novel, The Pale King, which remainedunfinished at the time of his death, was published in 2011 by Little, Brown andCompany under the guidance of his long-time editor Michael Pietsch. Wallace worked atthe Internal Revenue Service and took accounting classes in preparation for the novel,which focuses on the employees of an IRS office.

Sources:

Contemporary Authors Online, http://galenet.galegroup.com (accessed 6 September2010).

Flood, Alison. "Unfinished Foster Wallace novel finds UK publisher."The Guardian.http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/07/david-foster-wallace-uk-publisher(accessed 15 December 2009).

Katovsky, Bill. "David Foster Wallace: A Profile."McSweeney's.http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/11/7katovsky.html (accessed 18 March 2010).

Lipsky, David. "The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace."Rolling StoneMagazine, 30 October 2008.

Neyfakh, Leon. "Remembering David Foster Wallace: 'David Would Never Stop Caring'Says Lifelong Agent."The New York Observer,http://www.observer.com/2008/arts-culture/david-foster-wallaces-agent (accessed 18March 2010).

Scope and Contents

The David Foster Wallace Papers document all but one of Wallace's major works andmany of his shorter works. The major works represented are: Brief Interviews withHideous Men (1999); The Broom of the System (1987); Consider the Lobster, And OtherEssays (2005); Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (2003); Girl withCurious Hair (1989); Infinite Jest (1996); Oblivion: Stories (2004); The Pale King(2011); and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments (1997). McCain's Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express (2008) is documented with twopreviously published short versions titled "The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and theShrub," and "Up, Simba." Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present

3


Shrub," and "Up, Simba." Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present(1990), coauthored by Wallace and Mark Costello, is Wallace's only major work withoutrepresentation. See the Index of Works for a complete listing of all titles in the papers.

The papers are organized into four series: I. Works, 1984-2006, undated; II. Personal andCareer-related, 1971-2008, undated; III. Copies of Works by Don DeLillo, undated; andIV. 2012 Additional Pale King Materials (1990-2007, undated). Series I. has beensubdivided into two subseries: A. Novels and Collections, 1987-2006, undated and B.Short Works, 1984-2006, undated. All of the materials are in English.

Series I. makes up the bulk of the collection and includes handwritten notes and drafts,notebooks, interview notes, research materials, typescript drafts, proofs, and promotionalmaterials. Some works are represented by as little as a single uncorrected typescript, butother works, such as Everything and More, provide comprehensive documentation ofWallace's full creative process with research materials, notebooks, handwritten drafts,original and revised typescript drafts, annotated and corrected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd passcopyedited drafts, and related correspondence. The majority of the typewritten draftscontain significant annotations and corrections by Wallace, often in different color inksfor subsequent passes through a particular draft. Also present are Wallace's manycomments, frequently humorous and often written on sticky notes attached to thetranscripts, written to the people involved in the various stages of editing.

Series II. contains personal and professional records including teaching materials,childhood schoolwork, and college awards, essays, and exams. Also present are somepersonal journal pages, research materials such as handwritten entomology notes, and an“evidence” notebook containing freewriting, descriptive phrases, figures of speech, andstory ideas.

Series III. consists solely of photocopy typescripts of three works by Don DeLillo, one ofwhich, Underworld, contains extensive handwritten annotations by Wallace.

Series IV. includes materials related to The Pale King. The series comprises handwrittenand typescript drafts, outlines, and characters lists; research print outs and visual aids;and a set of notebooks that contain reading notes, names, snippets of dialogue,definitions, quotations, and clippings. Manuscript materials have been organizedaccording to batch and log numbers taken from a spreadsheet provided by Wallace'seditor Michael Pietsch. These numbers are indicated on the folders and correspond to thespreadsheet page(s) included in each corresponding folder. A copy of the fullspreadsheet is available in the front of Box 1. Where possible, the finding aid indicatesthe source location for each manuscript batch (e.g. "from his desk" or from a particulardisk).

A relatively small amount of correspondence is in the papers, and what is present isalmost entirely work-related between Wallace and his editors, fact-checkers, etc. Allincoming letters are listed in an Index of Correspondents. The majority of Wallace'spapers are in excellent condition, with only a few items requiring preservationrestrictions, photocopying, and/or special housings.

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Related Material

Additional Wallace materials are located at the Ransom Center in the David FosterWallace Collection, the Bonnie Nadell Collection of David Foster Wallace, the StevenMoore Collection of David Foster Wallace, the Don DeLillo Papers, and the JamesLinville Paris Review Collection.

Separated Material

320 books arrived at the Ransom Center with the David Foster Wallace Papers, all a partof Wallace's personal library gathered from his home. These volumes are housed in theRansom Center Library and are listed in the University of Texas Library Catalog. 11books in the collection are restricted from access at the request of the estate.

One author-marked copy of Infinite Jest, the contents of thirteen folders, severalauthor-marked pages of typescripts from additional folders, and one notebook with loosesheets have been removed from the papers and housed separately due to preservationrestrictions. Photocopy or digital scan printouts of the separated materials are available intheir place. The original materials may be viewed only with curatorial approval.

Index Terms

Subjects

American literature -- 20th century

Authors, American -- 20th century

DeLillo, Don

Modernism (Literature) -- United States

Document Types

Galley proofs

Juvenilia

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http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/search/x?SEARCH=David+Foster+Wallace+Library&searchscope=18&sortdropdown=-

Series I. Works, 1984-2006, undated

Subseries A. Novels and Collections, 1987-2006, undated

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (short story collection, 1999)

"Octet" typescript, undated (published as "Pop Quiz" in Spelunker FlophouseVol. 1, No. 4, 1997)

Container2.4

"Suicide as a Sort of Present," typescript, undated (published as "Self-Harm as aSort of Offering" in Mid-American Review, No. 18, Spring 1998)

Container35.4

Marked typescript, undated Container 2.5-7

'Marked set,' 20-25 January 1999 Container 2.8

'Marked set' (continued) Container 3.1-2

Contents page, undated Container 3.3

The Broom of the System (novel, 1987)

"Inside," typescript draft, four copies, undated Container 3.4

'Chapter 8,' typescript draft, undated Container 3.5

Typescript draft, undated Container 3.6-9

Typescript draft, (continued) Container 4.1-2

Typescript draft fragments, undated Container 4.3

Penguin press materials, 1987 Container 4.4

Consider the Lobster, And Other Essays (essay collection, 2005)

"Authority and American Usage," corrected typescript drafts, undated Container4.6

"Consider the Lobster," typescript draft, undated Container 4.7

"Host"

'Design manuscript,' December 2004 [*removed to oversize flat files] Container*

'First pass' draft, 8 July 2005 Container 4.8

6


'Master proof,' 22 July 2005 [*some pages removed to Box 34 due topreservation restrictions]

Container4.9*

'C/E dupe,' undated Container 4.10

"How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart," handwritten and typescript drafts, undated Container4.11

"Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky," handwritten and typescript drafts, researchmaterials, undated

Container4.12

"A Series of Remarks on Kafka's Funniness," typescript drafts, undated Container4.5

"Up, Simba," correspondence, typescript drafts, and draft fragments, undated Container4.13

"Up, Simba" (continued) Container 5.1-3

Typescript draft, December 2004 Container 5.4-6

'Author set' proofs, 22 July 2005 Container 5.7-8

'Author set' (continued) Container 6.1

'Little, Brown set' and photocopy, 22 July-15 August 2005 Container6.2-6

'Little, Brown set' (continued) [*some pages removed due to preservationrestrictions]

Container7.1*

'Extremely uncorrected' advance proofs, photocopy, undated Container7.2-3

Advance proofs, copyedited, undated [*some pages removed due to preservationrestrictions]

Container7. 4-5*

Advance proofs (continued) Container 8.1

Correspondence, 2005 Container 8.2

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (nonfiction, 2003)

'General outline' and 'index for notebooks A, B, and C,' 11/2001 Container8.3

Notebooks A, B, and C, May-October 2001 Container 8.4-6

Notebooks 1, 2, 3, and 4, undated Container 8.7-10

7


Research materials, 2002, undated Container 9.1

Notes and draft fragments, 2001-2002, undated Container 9.2

Corrected draft, undated Container 9.3-4

Typescript draft, 28 February 2002 Container 9.5

Typescript with author's editing instructions, 2 July 2002 Container9.6-7

'Redone version,' typescript, September 2002 Container 9.8-9

'Redone version' (continued) Container 10.1

Typescript photocopy with author's corrections, undated Container10.2-4

Copyedited typescript and photocopy, undated Container10.5-8

Copyedited typescript photocopy (continued) Container 11.1-2

'Marked set,' 2002-2003 Container 11.3-6

'Proofreader's set, 1st pass master,' 10 April-5 May 2003 Container11.7

'Proofreader's set' (continued) Container 12.1-3

'Author's set, 2nd pass' and photocopy, 11 July 2003 Container12.4-6

'Author's set, 2nd pass' (continued) [*some pages removed due to preservationrestrictions]

Container13.1-3*

'Master 2nd pass,' 11-15 July 2003 Container 13.4-6

'Early 3rd pass, fixed sheets,' August 2003 Container 13.7

'3rd pass, author's set,' 4-13 August 2003 Container 13.8

'3rd pass, author's set' (continued) Container 14.1-2

Correspondence

Jesse Cohen, 2002-2003, undated [*printed scans only; originals removed dueto preservation restrictions]

Container14.3*

8


'Special notes for Jesse Cohen and copyeditor,' undated [*printed scans only;originals removed due to preservation restrictions]

Container14.4*

Erica Neely, 2001-2002 [*printed scans only; originals removed due topreservation restrictions]

Container14.5*

Girl with Curious Hair (short story collection, 1989)

Draft fragments, 1987, undated [*printed scans only; originals removed due topreservation restrictions]

Container14.6-7*

Incomplete typescript chapter set, undated [*printed scans only; originalsremoved due to preservation restrictions]

Container14.8*

Incomplete typescript chapter set (continued) Container 15.1*

'Original draft,' undated Container 15.2-3

Infinite Jest (novel, 1996)

Handwritten drafts, undated Container 15.4-7

'First two sections,' typescript drafts and photocopy, undated Container16.1-6

Typescript draft fragments, undated Container 16.7

Typescript draft fragment (continued) Container 17.1-3

Typescript draft, with corrections, undated Container 17.4-8

Typescript draft (continued) Container 18.1-6

Draft for copyedit, undated Container 18.7

Draft for copyedit (continued) Container 19.1-6

Draft for copyedit (continued) Container 20.1-4

Typescript, copyedited, May-June 1995, undated Container20.5-6

Typescript, copyedited (continued) Container 21.1-5

Typescript, copyedited (continued) Container 22.1-3

Proof set, 5 September 1995 Container 22.4-6

9


Proof set, 6-22 September 1995 Container 23.1-5

Notepad with corrections list Container 23.6

Digital copy printouts of 'corrections of typos/errors for paperback printing ofInfinite Jest,' from 1st edition, 2nd printing Infinite Jest hardcover, 1996 [*bookremoved due to preservation restrictions]

Container23.7*

Correspondence

Little, Brown and Co., 1994 Container 23.8

Fan letter, 1997 Container 23.9

Promotional poster, undated [*removed to oversize flat files] Container *

Promotional poster for paperback edition, undated [*removed to oversize flatfiles]

Oblivion: Stories (short story collection, 2004)

"Another Pioneer," typescript, undated Container 24.1

"Good Old Neon"

Handwritten drafts, undated Container 24.2

'2nd to last draft,' 16 September 2001 Container 24.3

'Final' draft, 25 September 2001 Container 24.4

"Mister Squishy"

Handwritten drafts, undated Container 24.5

Typescript drafts, June 2000-September 2001, undated Container24.6

"Oblivion"

Handwritten draft, undated Container 24.7

Typescript draft, July 2001 Container 24.8

"The Suffering Channel," typescript draft, undated Container 24.9

Typescript, uncorrected, undated Container 24.10-11

Typescript, uncorrected (continued) Container 25.1

10


'Advance proofs,' undated Container 25.2-4

'Author's set,' 2-3 March 2004 [*some pages removed due to preservationrestrictions]

Container25.5-7*

The Pale King (novel, 2011)

Handwritten drafts 'freewriting' and 'Fierce Infant,' undated Container26.1

Research materials

Accounting classes, 1997-1998 Container 26.2-4

Boredom Container 26.5

'Midwesternisms' notebook, undated Container 31.12

Scams, fraud, self defense Container 26.6

Tax law, 2005-2006, undated Container 26.7

Correspondence, 1997-2006 Container 26.8

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments (essay collection, 1997)

"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," photocopied corrected draft,undated

Container1.1

"David Lynch Keeps His Head"

Handwritten notes and draft, undated Container 1.2

Photocopied corrected draft, undated Container 1.3

"Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm of CertainStuff about Choice, Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and HumanCompleteness," photocopied corrected draft, undated

Container1.4

Copyedited set, undated Container 1.5-7

'Author set' proofs, 29-31 October 1996 Container 1.8-10

Proof set, 29-31 October 1996 [*some pages removed due to preservationrestrictions]

Container2.1-3*

Subseries B. Short works, 1984-2006, undated

11


"Adultworld, Part One: The Ever-Changing Status of the Yen" (Esquire, July, 1998)

Typescript draft, undated Container 26.9

Galleys, 27 April 1998 Container 26.10

All Things to One Man, typescript, undated (published as "Late Night" in Playboy,June 1988; later collected in Girl With Curious Hair as "My Appearance," 1989)

Container26.11

"Brief Interviews with Hideous Men," typescript draft, April 1998 (Harper'sMagazine, October 1998; later collected in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,1999)

Container26.13

"Church Not Made With Hands," typescript, undated (Rampike [Toronto]Winter/Spring 1991)

Container27.1

Crash of '62, typescripts, undated (University of Arizona essay; later published inBetween C & D, Winter 1989 as "Crash of '69")

Container27.2

"Datum Centenarius," typescript, undated (published as "Passion Digitally" in NewYork Times Magazine, September 29, 1996; later collected in Brief Interviews withHideous Men, 1999)

Container27.3

"Democracy and Commerce at the U. S. Open" (Tennis, September 1996)

Notebook, undated Container 27.4

Typescript, undated Container 27.5

"The Depressed Person," handwritten and typed drafts, 27 June-6 October 1997( Harper's Magazine, January 1998)

Container27.6-7

"E Unibus Pluram: Television and U. S. Fiction," typescript, undated (Review ofContemporary Fiction, 1993)

Container27.8

The Enema Bandit and the Cosmic Buzzer, typescript, undated (unpublished)[*printed scans only; originals removed due to preservation restrictions]

Container27.9*

"Federer As Religious Experience" (The New York Times, August 20, 2006)

Interview notes, undated Container 27.10

Research materials, undated Container 27.11-12

Typescript drafts, undated Container 27.13

Typescript drafts (continued) Container 28.1

Correspondence, 2006, undated [*printed scans only; originals removed due to Container

12


Correspondence, 2006, undated [*printed scans only; originals removed due topreservation restrictions]

Container28.2*

Play copies, 2006 Container 28.3

"Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young," typescript draft, undated (TheReview of Contemporary Fiction VIII: 3, 1988)

Container28.4

"Five Direly Underappreciated U. S. Novels," faxed typescript, 1999 (Salon.com,April 12, 1999)

Container28.5

Here and There, typescript, 1989 (writing sample for Yaddo application) Container28.6

"Host," layout photocopy typescript, August 2004 (The Atlantic Monthly, April2005; later collected in Consider the Lobster, 2005) [*removed to oversize flat files]

Container*

"An Interval," proofs, August-September 1994 (The New Yorker, January 1995) Container26.12

"John Billy," typescripts, undated (Conjunctions: 12, 1988) Container28.7

"John Updike, Champion Literary Phallerat, Drops One: Is This Finally the End forthe Magnificent Narcissists?," handwritten notes, typescript drafts, undated (TheNew York Observer, October 13, 1997)

Container28.8

"Laughing with Kafka," typescript draft, 1998 (Harper's Magazine, July 1998; latercollected in Consider the Lobster, 2005)

Container28.9

"My Commencement Speech," handwritten and typescript drafts, 2005 (speechdelivered at Kenyon College, 2005) [*printed scans only; originals removed due topreservation restrictions]

Container28.10-11*

"The Nature of Fun," faxed typescript, 1998 (Fiction Writer Magazine, September1998)

Container28.12

"Neither Adult Nor Entertainment" (Premiere, September, 1998; later collected in Consider theLobster, 2000)

Handwritten and typed notes and drafts, undated Container 29.1

Typescript draft, undated Container 29.2

'Initial layout,' December 1997 [*removed to oversize flat files] Container *

Correspondence, undated Container 29.3

Container

13


"Nothing Happened," typescripts, undated (Open City, Number Five, 1997) Container29.4

"Order and Flux in Northampton," typescript drafts, 1989, undated (Conjunctions:17, Fall 1991)

Container29.5

"Other Math," typescript, undated (Western Humanities Review, Summer, 1987) Container29.6

"The Piano in the Pantechnicon," (The Allegheny Review, 1984) Container29.7

"The Planet Trillaphon as it Stands in Relation to the Bad Thing," printed excerpt,undated (The Amherst Review, v. XII, 1984)

Container29.8

"Rhetoric and the Math Melodrama," correspondence, drafts, published essay,2000-2001, undated (Science, December 22, 2000)

Container29.9

"Self-Harm as a Sort of Offering," typescript, undated (Mid-American Review, No.18, Spring 1998; later collected in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 1999, as"Suicide as a Kind of Present")

Container35.3

"Several Birds," correspondence, proofs, 1994, undated (The New Yorker, June1994)

Container29.10

"Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise," corrected faxedproofs, 10-13 November 1995 (Harper's Magazine, January, 1996; later publishedas "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'llNever Do Again: Essays and Arguments, 1997)

Container29.11

Shorter pieces

The (As it Were) Seminal Importance of Terminator 2, undated (published as"F/X Porn," Waterstone's Magazine, Winter/Spring 1998)

Container29.12

Back in New Fire, typescript, undated (published as "Impediments toPassion," Might Magazine, November/December 1996; later titled "Hail theReturning Dragon, Clothed in New Fire," Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and theDeath of Camp and Other Essays from Might Magazine, 1998)

"The Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal" book review,typescript drafts, undated (Rain Taxi, Spring 2001)

"The Blindfold" book review, undated (Contemporary Literary Criticism Vol.76, 1992; and The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 24, 1992)

"Borges: A Life" book review (The New York Times Book Review, 2004)

"Sage Pronouncement," December 1992 (Published as "From Quite A Bit14


"Sage Pronouncement," December 1992 (Published as "From Quite A BitLonger Thing in Progress," Conjunctions: 20, Spring 1993)

"Solomon Silverfish," typescript, undated (Sonora Review, No. 16, Fall 1987) Container29.13

"The String Theory" (Esquire, Vol. 126, No. 1, July 1996)

Notebook, July 1995 Container 29.14

Typescript, March 1996 Container 29.15

"Tense Present: Democracy, English and the Wars Over Usage" (Harper's Magazine, April2002; later collected in Consider the Lobster as "Authority and American Usage," 2006)

Notes and research materials, undated Container 30.1-2

Handwritten and typescript drafts, undated Container 30.3-5

Harper's Magazine proofs and correspondence, 2001 Container30.6-7

"Think," typescript draft, undated (Conjunctions: 28, Spring 1997) Container30.8

"Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko," typescript drafts, 1990, undated (Grand Street46, Summer 1993; later collected in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 1999)

Container30.9-10

"The View From Mrs. Thompson's," handwritten and typescript drafts, undated( Rolling Stone Magazine, October 25, 2001; later collected in Consider the Lobster,2005)

Container30.11

"The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and the Shrub: Seven Days in the Life of the Late, Great JohnMcCain" (Rolling Stone Magazine, April 13, 2000; later titled "Up, Simba" in Consider theLobster, 2000)

Notebook, undated Container 30.12

McCain research materials, 1998-2000, undated Container 30.13

McCain research materials (continued) Container 31.1

Handwritten, typescript, and faxed drafts and proof, 2000, undated Container31.2-5

Layout proof, March 2000 [* removed to oversize flat files] Container *

15


Series II. Personal and Career-Related, 1971-2008, undated

Amherst College

Essays and exams, 1980-1981, undated [*printed scans only; originals removeddue to preservation restrictions]

Container31.6*

Senior thesis, "Richard Taylor's 'Fatalism' and the Semantics of PhysicalModality," photocopy typescripts, 1985, undated

Container35.5-6

Awards, acceptance letters, 1979-1999 [*printed scans only; originals removed dueto preservation restrictions; oversize removed to flat files]

Container31.7*

Book withdrawals, 1988-2006, undated Container 35.1

Correspondence, 1992-2007 Container 31.8

Draft of colleague's article, typescript with handwritten notes, undated Container35.2

Early schoolwork, 1971-1977, undated [*printed scans only; originals removed dueto preservation restrictions]

Container31.9*

Empty folder labeled 'Emptiness/Closeness essay,' undated Container31.10

Evidence notebook, typed and handwritten freewriting, descriptive phrases, figuresof speech, and story ideas, undated

Container43.1

Interview with Gus Van Sant, Dazed and Confused Magazine, 1991? Container31.11

Newspaper clipping, reading announcement, 1987, undated Container31.13

Personal journal pages, 1996, undated Container 31.14

Research Materials

"1982: Pages of Time, A Nostalgia Report," pamphlet; "1983: Remember When...A Nostalgic Look Back in Time," pamphlet

Container32.1

de Zengotita, Thomas. Mediated: The Hidden Effects of Media on People,Places, and Things, 2004, with handwritten notes

Container32.2

Entomology notes, handwritten, undated Container 32.3

Container

16


Fleishman Hillard International Communications binder, 2000 Container32.4

White, Curtis. The Middle Mind: From the Poverty of the American Imaginationto the New Sublime, 2003, with handwritten notes

Container32.5

Sabrina, The Humor Magazine of Amherst College, 4 issues, November 1982-April1983 [*removed to oversize flat files]

Container*

Teaching materials

Class syllabi, 1992-2008 Container 32.6

Taught essays and writing topics, undated Container 32.7-8

Teaching notes, undated Container 32.9

Vocabulary lists, 1989-1997, undated Container 32.10

Quizzes, essay exams, paper assignments, 1989-1994, undated Container32.11

17


Series III. Copies of Works by Don DeLillo, undated

Love-Lies-Bleeding: A Play, photocopy typescript with handwritten annotations,undated

Container33.1

Underworld, Parts One, Two, and Three, bound photocopy typescript withhandwritten annotations, undated

Container33.2-4

Valparaiso: A Play in Two Acts, photocopy typescript unmarked, undated Container33.5

Materials separated from 2.1-3, 4.9, 7.1, 7.4-5, 13.1-3, 14.3-8, 23.7, 25.5-7, 27.9,28.2, 28.10-11, 31.6-7, 31.9, 41.1, and 41.7 due to preservation restrictions[available only with curatorial approval]

Container34, 42, 44

18


Series IV. 2012 Additional Pale King Materials, 1990-2007, undated

Typescript drafts with handwritten edits, undated

"From his desk: clean print outs" Container 36.1-2

"From his wire basket" Container 36.3-4

Typescript and handwritten drafts, "Electric Girl" folder, "from his wire basket,"undated

Container36.5

Typescript drafts

2005-2006, "WPK ZIP disk print outs" Container 36.6

"WPK ZIP disk print outs" (continued) Container 37.1-2

Fragments, 5" floppy disk #1 print outs, 1992-1997 Container37.3-4

5" floppy disk #3 print outs, 1990-1998 Container 37.5

Disk contents sheets, "very fragmented pages from the corrupted disk," undated Container38.1

Typescript drafts

"Pale King 2" and SS # Index, 2007 Container 38.2

"Glitterer/ SJF, freewriting F99," 1999-2004 Container 38.3

"Black Unlabeled Disk," WPF fragments, 2006-2007 Container38.4-5

Typescript and handwritten drafts, undated Container 38.6-7

Handwritten drafts, 1997-2005, undated Container 38.8

Handwritten drafts, 1997-2005 (continued) Container 39.1-5

Handwritten and typescript drafts from "Glitterer/SJF" freewriting binder,2005-2007, undated

Container39.6-40.7

Butterfly notebook, notes and clippings, undated Container 40.8

Handwritten drafts

Green spiral notebook, undated Container 40.9

19


Green spiral "Reward for Return" notebook, undated [*printed scans only;original notebook removed due to preservation restrictions]

Container41.1*

Harvey Mudd notebook, undated Container 41.2

Pink kitten "Scenes" notebook, undated Container 41.3

Handwritten "Roster of Parts," Rugrats™ notebook, undated Container41.4

Leather-wrapped notebook, photos, haiku, clippings and notes, undated Container41.5

Klimt notebook, handwritten notes, undated Container 41.6

Records notebook, notes and clippings, undated [*printed scans only; originalnotebook removed due to preservation restrictions]

Container41.7*

Visual aids, IRS research, printouts, Peoria map, 2005 Container 41.8

Book withdrawals, 2006, undated Container 41.9

20


Index of Correspondents

Bernard-Shellman, Jerry--26.8Cohen, Jesse--14.3Conn, Charis--27.7Dean, Josh--28.2Einstein, Susanna--5.1Espen, Hal--26.12Freudenthal, Peggy--8.2, 20.5Garner, Dwight--29.12Gehron, Katie--25.2Graham, April--8.2Gunderson, Tanya--31.8Harbach, Chad--31.8Harrison, Colin--30.6Harrison, Jim--31.8Kenny, Glenn--29.3Lacy, Stephen--26.8Linton, Frank--26.8Lorberer, Eric--29.12Lovell, Joel--28.9Menaker, Daniel--29.10Monda, Antonio--28.2Neely, Erica--14.5Pearce, Christine--29.9Pietsch, Michael--4.12, 23.8Silverstein, Mary LaMotte--30.6Suter, Sherman--29.9Tarter, John Charles--9.2Testa, [Martina]--31.8Uhrig, Betsy--8.2Wallace, James D.--36.3Watson, Peyton (Watson, Bernard Peyton)--23.9Wengert, Bob--9.2_____, Mimi--26.8, 28.2

21


Index of Works

"Adultworld, Part One: The Ever-Changing Status of the Yen"--26.9-10All Things to One Man--26.11 (see also Girl with Curious Hair)"Another Pioneer"--24.1The (As it Were) Seminal Importance of Terminator 2--29.12"Authority and American Usage"--4.6 (see also "Tense Present: Democracy, English and the WarsOver Usage")Back in New Fire--29.12"The Blindfold"--29.12"Borges: A Life"--29.12Brief Interviews with Hideous Men--2.4-3.3"Brief Interviews with Hideous Men"--26.13The Broom of the System--3.4-4.4"Church Not Made With Hands"--27.1"Consider the Lobster"--4.7Consider the Lobster, And Other Essays--4.5-8.2 (see also "Neither Adult NorEntertainment,""The View From Mrs. Thompson's," and "The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and theShrub: Seven Days in the Life of the Late, Great John McCain")Crash of '62--27.2"Datum Centenarius"--27.3"David Lynch Keeps His Head"--1.2-3"Democracy and Commerce at the U. S. Open"--27.4-5"The Depressed Person"--27.6-7"E Unibus Pluram: Television and U. S. Fiction"--27.8The Enema Bandit and the Cosmic Buzzer--27.9Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity--8.3-14.5"F/X Porn" (see The (As it Were) Seminal Importance of Terminator 2)"Federer As Religious Experience"--27.10-28.3"Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young"--28.4"Five Direly Underappreciated U. S. Novels"--28.5"From Quite A Bit Longer Thing in Progress" (see "Sage Pronouncement")Girl with Curious Hair--14.6-15.3 (see also All Things to One Man)"Good Old Neon"--24.2-4"Hail the Returning Dragon, Clothed in New Fire" (see Back in New Fire)Here and There--28.6"Host"--4.8-10"How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart"--4.11"Impediments to Passion" (see Back in New Fire)Infinite Jest--15.4-23.9"Inside"--3.4"An Interval"--26.12"John Billy"--28.7"John Updike, Champion Literary Phallerat, Drops One: Is This Finally the End for theMagnificent Narcissists?"--28.8"Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky"--4.12"Late Night" (see All Things to One Man and Girl with Curious Hair)"Laughing with Kafka"--28.9 (see also "A Series of Remarks on Kafka's Funniness")"Mister Squishy"--24.5-6"My Appearance" (see All Things to One Man and Girl with Curious Hair)"My Commencement Speech"--28.10-11

22


"The Nature of Fun"--28.12"Neither Adult Nor Entertainment"--29.1-3 (see also Consider the Lobster, And Other Essays)"Nothing Happened"--29.4"Oblivion"--24.7-8Oblivion: Stories--24.1-25.7"Octet"--2.4"Order and Flux in Northampton"--29.5"Other Math"--29.6The Pale King--26.1-8, 31.12, 36.1-41.9"Passion, Digitally" (see "Datum Centenarius")"The Piano in the Pantechnicon"--29.7"The Planet Trillaphon as it Stands in Relation to the Bad Thing"--29.8"Pop Quiz" (see "Octet")"Rhetoric and the Math Melodrama"--29.9"Richard Taylor's 'Fatalism' and the Semantics of Physical Modality"--35.5-6"Sage Pronouncement"--29.12"Self-harm as a Sort of Offering"--35.3 (see also "Suicide as a Type of Present")"A Series of Remarks on Kafka's Funniness"--4.5 (see also "Laughing with Kafka")"Several Birds"--29.10"Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise"--29.12 (see also"A SupposedlyFun Thing I'll Never Do Again")"Solomon Silverfish"--29.13"The String Theory"--29.14-15"The Suffering Channel"--24.9"Suicide as a Type of Present"--35.4 (see also "Self-harm as a Sort of Offering")"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again"--1.1 (see also "Shipping Out: On the (nearlylethal) comforts of a luxury cruise")A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments--1.1-2.3"Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm of Certain Stuff about Choice,Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness"--1.4"Tense Present: Democracy, English and the Wars Over Usage"--30.1-7 (see also "Authority andAmerican Usage")"Think"--30.8"Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko"--30.9-10 (see also Brief Interviews with Hideous Men)"Up, Simba"--4.13, 5.1-3 (see also "The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and the Shrub: Seven Days inthe Life of the Late, Great John McCain")"The View From Mrs. Thompson's"--30.11 (see also Consider the Lobster, And Other Essays)"The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys, and the Shrub: Seven Days in the Life of the Late, Great JohnMcCain"--30.12-31.5 (see also "Up, Simba")

23


Documents

David Foster Wallace - University of Texas at Austin · Biographical Sketch David Foster Wallace was born February 21, 1962, in Ithaca, New York. His father, James Wallace, is a philosophy